The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has raised serious concerns about how the Kerala Higher Education department managed the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) program. Their report, covering the period up to March 2023, points to significant failures, including extensive delays, major deviations from guidelines, and questionable financial practices.
Delayed Reforms and Inconsistent Laws
The CAG noted that Kerala’s State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) Act was only updated in 2018, a full five years after the RUSA guidelines were first introduced in 2013. This delay hindered necessary reforms. Furthermore, the amended state Act contains provisions that clash with the Central government’s guidelines. For instance, RUSA guidelines state that the Higher Education Council should be led by an accomplished academic or public intellectual. However, Kerala appointed its Higher Education Minister as the chairperson. The audit identified eight such critical deviations. While the State government argued that its amendments incorporated most RUSA provisions alongside Kerala’s unique considerations and did not undermine RUSA’s core goals, the discrepancies remain clear.
Flawed Planning and Funding Restrictions
Another major finding was that the State Higher Education Plan (SHEP) was created without the essential baseline survey, which is crucial for identifying gaps in access, equity, and quality in education. The report also highlighted substantial delays—ranging from nearly a year to over four-and-a-half years—from institutions in submitting the mandatory Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) required for Central assistance.
Adding to the criticism, the state government controversially limited RUSA benefits solely to government colleges. This decision excluded 166 NAAC-accredited aided colleges from potential funding. The KSHEC’s SHEP, submitted for Central funding, included six universities and 63 government colleges, but surprisingly, 35 of these colleges lacked NAAC accreditation.
Financial Mismanagement and Unproductive Spending
The audit also exposed serious financial management issues within the RUSA program. Funds were released slowly, with the state’s share often delayed by up to 395 days. Moreover, Kerala failed to meet its own commitment under the RUSA memorandum of understanding to increase higher education spending to 2% of its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) by 2020. Instead, spending remained stagnant, fluctuating between 0.44% and 0.51% from 2018 to 2023.
The CAG further called out “unfruitful expenditure” of ₹15.03 crore and an “idle investment” of ₹5.05 crore by the Kerala State Science and Technology Museum. These figures relate to two projects in Kottayam and Chalakudy, sanctioned almost a decade ago, which are still unfinished due to inadequate planning and a lack of technical expertise.